


Queen with no Country

by Leeef



Series: A Happenstance of Angels [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-04 00:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1760757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leeef/pseuds/Leeef
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years before she ever went to Narnia Susan Pevensie had a friend with a strange blue box who kept popping up at strange times. But knowing him didn't make her any less sceptical when Lucy claimed to find a world inside a wardrobe.</p>
<p>After she was told she could never visit Narnia again Susan struggled to readjust to living on earth. When she refused to talk about their adventures her siblings thought she had forgotten about their time as Kings and Queens. But Susan chose to try and forget about what she could not have again and look to the future instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

  
_Felicity Jones as Susan Pevensie_

* * *

Susan Pevensie stood on a precipice, poised to fall or step back from the edge.

It’s strange how things can change in a single instant, one second she was one of four siblings, with a Mother and a Father. The next she was alone in the world and they were gone, taken from her, believing she was something she was not. Peter, Edmund and Lucy had died believing she had abandoned their youth. They died thinking that she had forgotten Narnia, and now she could never go back, never make it right. Not even her sometimes friend the time traveller could take her through time to fix everything. Somehow she knew that this moment right now, was the reason why the Tardis refused to move through time whenever she was aboard.

Words were spoken to her and around her but nothing made sense. How could it? How could she be anything but alone? Now and forever. Tears running unchecked down her cheeks would never be lovingly wiped away by her dear Mother. No more Lucy to soothe her hurts, no Ed or Peter to try and make her smile again. No Father to treat her like his little girl, even though she had long since grown up. How could she go on?

_A sister was born, taking three children and making them four. A girl for Su to play with, someone for her to bond with like her brothers had. Little Lucy, bright soul. Her coffin so small and unassuming, hiding the Queen within beneath its plain exterior._

_Little brother Edmund, reaching a finger out to his tiny little hand, him gripping her with his delicate fingers and not letting go. His coffin containing a boy, who should have grown to the man she once knew in another life, far way._

_Holding tightly to a strong hand that pulled her along faster than her little feet could keep up. Smiling up at that big blond head, knowing Peter would keep her safe. The King in the coffin, the one she followed and argued with in equal measure. Never to be the brave soldier she knew he was._

Parents and cousin, others who kept Narnia close in their hearts. Perhaps now they were all together in that lucky county. Leaving her to stand alone as they were returned to the ground, she cried for all the might have been. Knowing it was worse, knowing what they could have, would have been. Should have... never would be.

_Their pale selves stood with hers, happy together in the long ago. The three bright shining lights moving away from the one that turned dimmer. That cried alone with no one to soothe her tears._

_Doctor please don’t leave me, I need you! The blue box was closed, the figure pounded on the unresisting wood that refused to open._

Fall or step back?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are love. Please let me know what you're thinking <3


	2. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Susan first met the Doctor she wasn't alone.

_1933 -  Age Five_

Her feet dragged on the ground as he pulled her along too fast for her tiny legs to keep up. "Peeteeerr," Susan whined as she tried to pull away from the boy who was much bigger than she was, even though he was only a year older. "Stooooop!" 

Peter rolled his eyes as he continued to drag his resisting sister along. "Come on Su don't you want to see the bikes?"

Their progress slowed as she dug her heels in until they stopped. After much twisting she pulled her hand out of his tight grip and crossed her arms in front of her chest, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. "Nooo... I wanna see somefing preety."

Rolling his eyes again Peter groaned in frustration, "Bikes can be pretty."

"Nuh uh," Susan shook her head immediately, she didn't want to see any stupid bikes.

Peter reached out the grab her hand in an attempt to ignore her and get his own way. But it was hard to find any fingers to hold onto when they were tucked into her armpits. "Where then?" he asked, finally giving up on it.

"There!" she pointed to a shop just down the road, its big glass window full of little pink cupcakes and glistening pastries. Skipping around the blond boy she called brother, Susan headed for the Bakery that was faaar more interesting that any stinky bike. Pressing her nose to the glass she stared in wonder at the beautiful confections tucked behind the barrier that kept her from sinking her teeth into sugary goodness. Blindly reaching out she groped for the boy that should have been standing next to her.

Her questing hand found nothing. Pulling her face away from the glass she looked around trying to catch a glimpse of the boy who was supposed to be keeping her safe. Her lower lip trembled, tears beginning to pool in her eyes as it dawned on her that she was all alone. "Peter?" she whispered, one lonely tear slipping down her cheek. Her thumb snuck it's way into her mouth as the bell on the little shop tinkled. A man in a big brown coat, with red shoes walking out of the door. "Oh hello," he said with a big grin, kneeling down to face her.

"Hmm" Susan mumbled around the thumb, still wedged firmly in her mouth.

"Where's your Mum?" he asked looking around, although there was no one else to be seen. More tears falling down her cheeks Susan hugged herself as she shook her head miserably. "Ah," the man rubbed his chin as he frowned, "So you're lost huh?" Thumb once again firmly entrenched in mouth she nodded, somehow managing to pout around the digit.

"Weeelll, how about I wait with you a bit hmmm?" the man sat on the ledge of the window, patting a space next to him. Susan nodded, rubbing her toe in the dirt, only looking up at him when she heard a strange buzzing sound. He had something long and silver with a blue light on the end in his hand, that he was waving around like it had some sort of meaning she didn't understand. Curiosity getting the better of her, the thumb came out with a pop as she asked the stranger "What's that?" she pointed at the silver thing that swung around until it was buzzing under her nose.

"Hmmm?" the man hummed, not seeming to pay any attention to what had been said to him. He looked up at her, blue eyes meeting blue as he spoke, "Oh this thing?" He wobbled it between two fingers as he grinned at her. "This is a sonic screwdriver, it tells me all sorts of things."

"Like what?" Su asked shuffling closer to hear his answer.

Tapping his chin with the screwdriver he said. "Well I know that you're five years old. And that you have a sweet tooth." He raised an eyebrow as she looked away from him at the sweet things in the window. She so wanted to taste those sugary things she saw behind the glass.

Tucking the tool away he spoke again, "But you know what?"

The girl stared wide eyed at him, "What?"

“It doesn't tell me your name."

Susan rubbed her toe in the dirt again, her Mummy had told her not to talk to strangers or to go anywhere with them. But they were still outside the Bakery so it was ok right?

The man spoke to fill the silence that his question had left, "You can call me the Doctor," he said with a gentle smile.

Wringing her hands in front of her Susan gave him a hesitant smile "Hi Doctor." Gathering her courage she answered his question, "I'm called Susan."

"Hello Susan," the Doctor smiled at her as his pocket began to beep. Pulling out the sonic screwdriver he held it up to an ear with a frown. "Tell me Susan do you have a brother?" Su nodded suddenly feeling shy again telling this man about herself, even though she now knew his name. Waving the screwdriver around, blue light blinking and making it buzz again the Doctor told her. "Well I think he's coming for you right now."

"How do you know?" Susan asked curiously.

Grinning again the Doctor winked. "Because my screwdriver can tell me all sorts of things." Susan stared at him wide eyed wondering how some stick of metal could talk to a person before a shout startled her. "SUSAN!" Turning around she saw a blond boy running towards her, as if he were afraid that she might disappear.  
  
Racing up and grabbing her shoulders he gasped for air as he struggled to speak. "Where were you Su?"

Looking at him with confusion Susan pouted as she pointed at the Bakery, "I was here wif the pretty cakes." Her thumb snuck back in her mouth as Peter stared at her in disbelief.

"You... you..." he trailed off, unable to find the words he needed. Standing up and making extra sure Su's hand was clutched in his own he began tugging her back the way they had come. "Come on we're going home."

"But..." Susan trailed off as she looked around for the Doctor so she could wave goodbye.

"What?" Pete asked, still pulling her back home.

"Nofing." Su sighed looking at the empty street. He was gone and she never got to ask about his strange buzzing stick.

A wheezing sound echoed behind them as they walked away. A few sweet wrappers flying around in a sudden wind that soon vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

 

* * *

 

_1935 - Age Seven_

"EDMUND!" Susan yelled as she ran along the street, past the Bakery searching for her wayward younger brother. "EDMUND! WHERE ARE YOU?" he was only five years old and she had lost him. She now knew how Peter must have felt, when he was the one who had lost her a few years ago. It was terrifying wondering what had happened, not knowing where he was and praying for the best.

"ED!" she called again, cupping her hands around her mouth to make the noise travel further. Turning to continue her search she stopped as a man in a brown coat with his hair sticking up in all directions and eating a pie walked out of the Bakery. "Doctor?" she asked in disbelief. Over the last two years she had almost convinced herself that the strange man she met must have been a dream. But here he was in the flesh, obviously he was much more than a mere figment of her imagination

Looking around the man frowned a bit before his gaze fell on her. Walking closer and squinting at the girl he licked his fingers and reached into his front coat pocket. He pulled out a metal tube, about as long as his sticky digits. Pressing a button on one end and making it buzz for a second, before looking at it. "Ahh!" he look back at Susan with another squint. "Susan?" Su nodded as he grinned at her. "Well you've certainly grown haven't you"

Shaking her head at him Susan crossed her arms as she frowned at him. "It's been two years Doctor."

"It has?" He asked with another frown before he brightened. "Of course it has." He gave her a rueful grin as his gaze took in the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. "What's wrong?"

Susan gave him a wobbly smile. "I've lost my brother."

This time the Doctor frowned and squinted at the same time, "What the blonde one?" Shaking her head she gave him a disbelieving look.

"Nooo... My younger brother Edmund."

"Ah." The Doctor nodded, tapping his chin with the sonic and looking around for any small boys that might have popped up.

"Does it really work?" Susan asked, eyeing the screwdriver.

"Hmm? Does what work?" The Doctor asked.

Rolling her eyes Su pointed at the sonic screwdriver. "That! You said it told you things."

Looking at it the Doctor grinned. "Oh that! Yes, yes the readings can tell me all sorts of things."

Nodding at his answer Susan asked the burning question. "Can it find my brother?"

"Oh?.. Oh!" The Doctor played with the sonic for a bit, making it buzz a few times.

"Well?" Susan asked impatiently.

He pointed the sonic at her, as it buzzed a few more times with the blue light blinking. The Doctor squinted at the device as it buzzed, the light beginning to blink faster. "Yes... yes... yes!" He cried holding it out in front of him with both hands. He paced backwards and forwards a few times as the buzzing rose and fell with his movements. It finally steadied to a constant drone as he began heading towards the park at the end of the road. Su followed silently behind him as their path took them towards the biggest tree on the grounds. Standing below it the Doctor began to move the sonic upwards, pointing at a small dark haired boy high in the branches. "Ed?" Susan came to stand beside the Doctor and as she stared up into the tree.

Edmund waved cheekily down at his sister and the strange man that had found him. "How did you get up there?" Susan asked. Ed sat a long way up and from the ground. It looked like the branches were spaced so far apart that it was not an easy feat to manage.

"I climbed," Ed stuck his tongue out as if to ask how else he could have gotten up there.

"Can you get down?" Susan tugged at the smooth worn fabric of her pretty floral dress that was completely wrong for climbing trees of any sort.

Confidently looking around at the branches that surrounded him Edmund rolled his eyes at his sister. "Course I can." He began the long climb down, slipping in a few places, making Su clutch her hands together with worry for his safety. She didn't breathe easily until his small feet were once again planted firmly on the ground. Grabbing him tightly she pulled her brother in for a smothering hug, as she quickly checked him for injuries.

"Gerrof." Ed moaned, trying to squirm out of her clutches

After patting him down all over Susan was finally satisfied that the small boy was undamaged after his adventures. She looked around for the tall thin man who called himself the Doctor. All she saw were more trees and a few birds flying high above.

A sharp tug on her skirts had her looking down again as Edmund asked her. "Who was that man Su?"

Frowning at his absence she answered distractedly as she craned her neck trying to spot the missing man. "He's my friend."

Looking around himself Ed also failed to see the Doctor, "Where is he?"

Heaving a great sigh Susan shook her head, holding the boy's small hand tightly in her own. "I don't know Ed, I don't know." Tugging her brother away from the tree she couldn't help wondering if she would ever see the Doctor again.

 

* * *

 

_1937 - Age Nine_

Susan tried to walk past the Bakery with a small hand clutched in her own. But a tugging from the owner of the hand pulled the older girl to a stop, as her little sister twisted her appendage in the tight grasp, trying to break free. "Lucy! Stop that," Su scolded the squirmer, "I am not letting you go."

"Whhhyyyy." Lucy whined with a pout. Rolling her eyes at the antics of her sister Susan frowned as she stared at the display window of the Bakery.

"Because I'm not losing you that's why."

"I just wanna look at the cakes." Lucy tugged half-heartedly on Su's hand as she gazed longingly at the delicious things on display, much like her sister had years ago.

Sighing in defeat Susan turned towards the Bakery. "Ok but just a quick look." Lucy squealed as only five year old girls can and tried to skip away. Her attempts thwarted by Susan who walked at a slower pace than the girl that danced at the end of one hand would have liked. It was just too bad for Lucy, as Su was not going to lose another sibling. Edmund had been terrifying enough. And there was no guarantee that the Doctor would be around to help her again.

Lucy pressed her tiny nose to the glass of the Bakery window. One hand pressed to the cool surface, the other still obstinately clutched by her older sister. Both girls knew that they couldn't have any of the sweet treats but that didn't stop them from dreaming. A face appeared, reflected in the glass. Su glance sideways and put a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Doctor?"

"Hello." The Doctor grinned at the pair as he stepped back away from the window. Lucy peered up at the strange man with a frown, tugging on her sister's hand. Susan leaned down so Lucy could whisper to her. "Is that him?" Su nodded with bemusement. Every two years he showed up like clockwork. She didn't know what to think about it anymore.

"Hi." Lucy said shyly as she buried her face in the soft fabric of her sister's skirt.

"No lost siblings this time?" The Doctor asked as he looked around.

Seeing as both times he met her she had lost a different sibling Susan supposed it was a valid question. "Nooo I learnt my lesson." She held up the hand that still held Lu's tightly in its grasp but Lucy quickly pulled their hands down as she peered up at the Doctor.

Winking at the girls he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, waving it gently in their direction and letting it buzz a few times. "Tell me Susan do you have any more brothers?" Su shook her head as she heard the indignant gasp from her skirts. "Sisters?" The Doctor asked with another cheeky wink.

"No!" Lucy stepped out from her hiding place to glare at the Doctor, "Just me!" She put one hand on her hip, trying to follow with the other and failing. Smothering a laugh Susan relinquished the hand so Lucy could complete her indignant stance.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor tipped an imaginary hat in apology, making both girls giggle. Sticking his hands in his pockets he looked at the bakery and then back to the girls. "Did you want something from there?"

"Oh yes!," Lucy squealed clasping both hands together under her chin.

"We can't." Su shook her head as she frowned at the man for getting her sister's hopes up.

"Why not?" The Doctor's head tilted to one side in puzzlement as he took in his young friend's sudden stern exterior.

Susan hesitated not sure she wanted to answer him, the younger girl took matters into her own hands. Waving for the Doctor to step closer so she whispered in his ear. "We don't have any money."

"Oh." The Doctor frowned as if the lack of money hadn't even occurred to him. "What if I got you something?"

Susan immediately shook her head, as Lucy nodded her own so fast it was a wonder it didn't fall off, "Oh yes please!"

Su closed her eyes briefly at the trusting look in her sister's eyes, hoping it didn't get her into trouble one day. "We can't Lu," she frowned at the Doctor for even suggesting such a thing. Just because she called him friend didn't mean he could go about buying things for her or her sister.

Little Lucy's eyes welled with tears as a treat was promised and quickly taken away before she even got to taste it. "Please Susie!" she begged, her hands clasped beneath her chin, a pout on her lips. Susan stared at Lu's pleading expression as she tried to refuse the request her sister had made of her. Lucy turned the begging up a notch as tears welled again in her eyes, one tear sliding slowly down her cheek.

The Doctor raised one eyebrow at the younger girl's antics as the older wavered in her conviction. Her resolve slowly crumbling Susan sighed. She could only hope that their mother would never find out they had let a strange man buy treats for them. No matter that Susan had met him twice before. Holding up a finger she tried to appear stern as Lucy gazed hopefully up at her. "We don't tell Mother." The girl quickly nodded in agreement, willing to do anything to sink her teeth into a sweet, sweet treat. Glancing at the Doctor, Susan waited silently for his agreement. He smiled as he nodded. "Since I have never met your mother, my lips are sealed."

Turning back to the window he waved his hand expansively at the display before them. "What will it be girls?" Rushing back to press her nose to the glass Lucy wasted no time in selecting her treat. Susan stood behind her sister, taking longer to make her own selection. Soon enough the Doctor stepped inside the shop, motioning for the pair to stay outside, it seemed to take forever as they waited for him to come back. Susan nibbled on the edge of her thumb as she thought about what she had just done, allowing a strange man to buy her food after only meeting him three times. Was she mad? Luckily the girl was rescued from her thoughts by the tinkling sound of the bell above the door. As the Doctor stepped out with his hands full of paper bags, tasty goodies hidden within. He strode towards the park he and Susan had visited the last time they had seen each other stopping at the first park bench he could find.

Watching him walk away their mouths watered at the delicious odours wafting from his purchases. The girls scrambled to follow the Doctor. By the time they arrived next to where the Doctor sat, the space beside him was occupied by two paper bags. His mouth filled with his own choice of delicious pastry. Lu instantly pounced on both bags, opening the first and peeking inside. She immediately shoved it into Susan's hands when the sight that greeted her was not her own choice.

Su fumbled with her bag, not expecting her sister to practically throw it at her. By the time she managed to extract her treat from its paper prison, Lucy's cheeks bulged outwards like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Taking a bite Susan almost choked at the sight. As the Doctor laughed outright at the little girl's antics. "Slow down," He tapped his nose as he winked at Lu, "No one is going to take it from you." While both girls savoured their unexpected meal, soon nothing but crumbs remained.

Brushing all evidence from herself and her sister Susan smiled at the Doctor. "Thank you."

The Doctor grinned. "You're welcome." Grinning at him, Lucy quickly chimed in with her own thanks. Susan opened her mouth to ask this strange man who kept popping up just who he was exactly when a voice called.

"SUSAN! LUCY!" Turning to look towards the Bakery the trio saw two boys running along the road. Their heads moving from side to side as they tried to spot their wayward sisters. The older one had blond hair while the younger had darker locks that kept falling in his eyes.

Susan was about to say goodbye to the Doctor and drag Lucy off to meet their brothers. When the little girl started waving and shouting at the boys "We're over here!" Su sighed as the boys headed towards them. Peter was sure to say something about trusting strangers. He didn't remember meeting the Doctor at all and didn't believe Su even after Ed backed her up.

The boys skidded to a stop in front of them. Edmund bending over and panting to get his breath back. As Pete stared suspiciously at the Doctor, who just grinned and waved at them. "Hello I'm the Doctor." Edmund waved in the Doctor's general direction as Peter nodded shortly in acknowledgement. Reaching out he grasped Lucy's hand and began to tug her back the way they had come. “Come on Mother's getting worried about you two.”

Lucy dug her heels in as she tried to pry her hand out of Peter's tight grip, “Let me go!”

 Susan sighed as Peter towed their struggling sister away. Turning to the Doctor she waved as she spoke. “It was nice seeing you again Doctor but we have to go now.” The Doctor nodded in agreement as Ed gave his own wave and trotted off after their departing siblings.

“I'll see you again sometime Susan.” The Doctor grinned as they began walking side by side up the road past the Bakery.

“When will that be Doctor? You just appear every few years and I never know when you'll show up again.” Susan did wonder where he went and why he kept turning up. But with Peter expecting her to follow them back home this wasn't the time to ask all the questions she wanted to.

The Doctor shrugged his gaze turning distant, as if he wasn't seeing the path ahead any more but something else instead. “Now where would be the fun in that hmm?” Susan opened her mouth to get a more satisfactory answer than that when Peter called out. “HURRY UP SUSAN!”

“Coming!” Su yelled back as she gave the Doctor an apologetic little smile.

“Go on then don't let me keep you.” The Doctor waved his hands in a shooing motion as Susan mouthed, 'Sorry.' And dashed off with a little wave over her shoulder. She would have loved to question him for hours about everything she kept thinking about him. Hopefully she would see him sooner than in two years time.


	3. The TARDIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Susan saw the Tardis was before she went through the wardrobe.

_1940 - Age Twelve_

They were being shipped off tomorrow... London was too dangerous for children so they were all being sent off to the countryside, where they would be safe. Although her Mother had assured her that she would be with Peter, Lucy and even Edmund, that still left out two members of their little family. Who knew when they would see Father again? Now they were being separated from their Mother too and expected to put on a brave face. What if something happened to her and they were having fun with cows or something? Blissfully unaware of any tragic change in their lives? Who knew when the war would end, who knew what would happen after that? Sometimes it was all too much for a young girl of twelve who had needed to grow up too fast.

She loved her siblings but sometimes she had to get away from them. Though it was hard to seek solitude in a house full of siblings. After that day when they had all met the Doctor together it was understood between them that when Susan went to the Bakery she wanted to be alone. She knew it was dangerous to disappear without telling anyone where she was going. Yet this was the last time for who knew how long that she could be here, so she had to make the most of it.

Susan stood outside the Bakery, watching the people walk wearily inside to buy bread. Gone were the delicious confections full of sugar and covered in frosting, that had once stood on display in the window. The war and rationing had made such things impossible. She could only hope that one day the war would end. That places like the Bakery that had once been full of joy and mouth watering treats would be so once again.

It was well past time the Doctor usually showed up, one year past to be exact. Could he find her when she was somewhere else? What was it about the strange man that made her want to know him? She couldn't help thinking about him every time she came to the Bakery. Eventually the dreary vision became too much and she turned away. She should go back to the house and finish packing for tomorrow, but it had been nice to get away for a few brief moments. As she started to trudge slowly back home a strange noise reached her ears. A wheezing, whooshing sound that was not quite like a siren but still very out of place. As she looked around trying to figure out where it had come from, the sound slowly faded away as the usual sounds of the street returned.

Susan walked down an alley beside the row of buildings the Bakery belonged to looking for the source of the curious sound. She caught a brief glimpse of something blue and a man in brown suit with a tan jacket moseying down the pathway. Stopping she stared in disbelief at the man. "Doctor?" He looked up at her, a small frown on his face as if he wasn't quite sure who she was. Although it had been three years this time Susan didn't think she had changed that much, but she didn't know what else he did with his time so maybe he had forgotten her. Rolling her eyes she walked towards the man as he continued to frown at her. "It's me Doctor... Susan... Remember?"

The frown slowly faded as a dawning realisation replaced it."Susan! You've grown!"

"It's been three years Doctor!" Susan said sternly as she reached out to grab his hand. She dragged him towards the park bench they had sat on last time, which was much more comfortable that some poky old alley way. The Doctor tugged feebly on his hand where it was trapped by hers. Though she couldn't tell if it was to remove his hand or pull her in the other direction, but Su wasn't giving up this chance to finally get some answers to questions she had been burning to ask for the last five years.

Reaching the bench she sat on it as she pulled on the Doctor's hand, urging him to sit next to her. The Doctor looked around as he sat down, finally turning to really look at her. The smile he had worn when he saw her had disappeared to be replaced by a serious expression, as he saw that her face held no laughter. "No siblings this time?" He asked as he looked around again, perhaps expecting a sibling or two to be lurking in the bushes.

Susan shook her head as she looked down at her hands where they sat in her lap. She couldn't help twisting them around anxiously. _Where do I start?_ she thought worriedly, in all her imaginings, somehow she had never got this far. 

The Doctor took in Susan's serious expression and the dreary group of people clustered around the Bakery. It looked rather more drab than the last time he had seen it. Obviously something terrible had happened since he had met young Susan. Looking at the time streams that floated around him he picked out the information telling him just where and more importantly when he was. 1940... during World War II when London was being bombed and children were sent to the country for their own safety. Looking at Susan who was merely a child he couldn't help thinking that she shouldn't be there. Maybe that was why she looked so glum.

"Are you leaving soon?" he asked quietly. Susan frowned as she nodded sharply, tears glittered in the corners of her eyes as she looked off into the distance. The Doctor wished he could take her away from this. But he wouldn't do that, she had siblings that she loved dearly and she would never leave them. Not to mention that he generally didn't take a companion out to travel the stars until they had reached a certain amount of maturity. Susan seemed a serious child but she was still a child.

"Mother will be all alone now." Su spoke quietly, she hadn't said this to anyone else and wasn't entirely sure why she was saying something now.

The Doctor nodded silently as he stared at the girl. She was clearly worried about her family and taking her off on adventures wouldn't change that. Maybe he could say something that would help. "It'll end you know, the war. It will end and eventually this time will be nothing but a footnote in history."

Susan stared incredulously at the man that sat beside her. "How do you know this? When will it end Doctor?"

Rubbing a hand over his face the Doctor tried to be gentle as he spoke. "I'm sorry Susan but it won't end until 1945 and I don't know what will happen to your family in particular."

Susan nodded at his words, trying to process what he had told her. "But how Doctor? How do you know this?" 

He stared at her for a few moments before speaking. "I've seen it happen, read about it, been to the parades."

Susan's frown deepened more and more as he spoke. "What are you talking about Doctor? How can you see future? How can you go there?"

The Doctor sighed and seemed to look within himself before he replied "Because I have a time machine. I can travel in time and space from the dawn of the dinosaurs. From the beginnings of the earth itself, to the end of the universe where humans keep surviving to the last."

Susan didn't know what to think. _Was he mad? Could he possibly be telling the truth? What did it all mean?_ "A time machine? You can travel through time?" A million questions flooded her mind, each one trying to force its way out. "Why can't you just stop bad things like the war happening? Are you from the future? Why are you telling me this? How can you see it all happen and not help anyone?" The words tumbled past her lips in a rush of near intelligible babble, as her mouth failed to keep pace with her racing thoughts.

The Doctor stared at her with a deep sadness in his eyes as he spoke somberly. "There was a time when there were rules that governed time travel. A whole race of people called Time Lords with rules not to interfere with the time lines."

She reached out to grasp his hand, "What happened to them?"

Shaking his head the Doctor looked away in shame. "They're all gone now, I'm the last." Taking Susan's other hand he squeezed them gently as he tried to explain. "There are so many planets teeming with life, stretching across the universe for millennia. Not even all my people working non-stop could prevent all the disasters in the universe. How do you choose who to help and who ignore? What if you make it worse instead of better?"

Susan sat quietly as she tried to sort through everything he had said. He was just one man, all alone. How could she ask him to save them all? He had told her that the war would end one day, perhaps that would be enough. "So what do you do? Doesn't it hurt seeing everything happen and not being able to stop it?"

The Doctor nodded sadly at her question. "I help where I can, my Tardis seems to have a habit of taking me places where I can be of some assistance."

It seemed a lonely way to live. _Did he ever stop anywhere long enough to live a life?_ Susan wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that question, so she asked a different one instead. "Tardis? What's a Tardis?"

The Doctor grinned at her, the sombre mood lifting. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space or Tardis for short, is what my time machine is called."

"Can it see it?" She asked as her gloomy mood started to lift at the thought of seeing something strange and wonderful, wondering what a time machine looked like exactly.

The Doctor stood up with a grin as he held out a hand to help her stand up, "Of course you can see it." Susan took his hand and used it to stand. She opened her fingers for him to release it but he only tightened his grip. Squeezing her hand gently, he tugged her back the way they had come.

Soon enough they had passed the place where they met. Susan stared at the blue police box that she was completely certain had not been there any other day before. Yet here it was, with no obvious way for it to move. There were no wheels, there didn't seem to be any mechanism at all to make it move so how did it get there? As they came to stand next to the police box the Doctor let go of her hand to wave at it with both arms. "Here she is, my Tardis."

His grin faded somewhat as Susan stared at Tardis with her arms crossed in front of her chest looking decidedly unimpressed. "How does it move? Where are the wheels?"

"Wheels?" The Doctor asked looking a little wounded, "Why would it need wheels when it can fly?"

Susan merely raised an eyebrow as she asked. "Well where are the wings then? It's just a box, how can that fly?"

The Doctor gaped like a fish trying to breathe out of water. "It doesn't really look like that, it's just a disguise."

"But how can you disguise wheels and wings?" She reached out to touch the blue police box, feeling the roughness of painted wood beneath her palm. It felt like any other police box, nothing special at all. "It feels like wood, is your time machine made out of wood Doctor?"

The Doctor couldn't think of anyone else he had met who had asked so many questions before even setting foot inside his Tardis. Admittedly his memory was a little spotty as he couldn't very well remember all 900 plus years of his extremely long life. But on this visit Susan had certainly turned into a mouthy little thing. Or perhaps she was always like this and he hadn't seen it before since she had been preoccupied with her siblings on all previous occasions. "The Tardis is a very sophisticated vehicle, using technology far beyond what anyone in this time is capable of. The chameleon circuit can make anyone see and feel a police box. On the outside that's exactly what it appears to be, however on the inside it's an entirely different story."

Susan stood with her hand still on the door of the Tardis, her mouth hanging open. "I... What?" She had barely understood any of the words that had tumbled out of the Doctor's mouth, certainly not enough to make sense of what he was trying to say.

Instead of trying to explain himself in simpler terms the Doctor grinned at Susan as he gestured to the door. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

Su pulled her hand back from the wooden door as she frowned at the Doctor. "You want me to go inside?" This seemed to her to be a very bad idea, when she had no idea what was beyond the door. She didn't know him all that well after all, even though she was dying to grasp the handle and take a peek inside. The Town Clock chimed the hour as Susan stood there filled with indecision.

Counting the number of times the bell rang, her eyes widened with shock as she realised what the time was. She had spent longer at the Bakery and talking to the Doctor than she had meant to and would surely have been missed by now. No matter how much she wanted to stay and take a peek at what lay behind the blue doors of the Doctor's Tardis, if she didn't run home right away she would be in so much trouble for disappearing. Letting go of the handle with a rush of disappointment filling her she looked at the Doctor with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Doctor but I have to go right now, before Mother notices I'm not there."

The Doctor nodded with his own sadness at her words, "Next time?" He asked hopefully. Maybe by that time she would be old enough for him take her off on an adventure.

"Til next time." Susan agreed as she waved goodbye and sprinted for home. Hoping that the only ones who had noticed she was gone were her siblings.


	4. Into the Wardrobe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan was ashamed she didn't believe Lucy's claims about the wardrobe.

When Lucy had first told them about the wardrobe, Susan was ashamed that she had followed the boys lead and not believed her. Peter had always been sceptical about the Doctor, although Edmund had believed her at first he had begun to doubt her too. Lucy was the only one who had never doubted her for a second, and yet she hadn't been able to return the favour.

Although the Doctor had told her he had a machine capable of travelling through time and it had looked just as wooden as the wardrobe, Susan couldn't imagine it whisking Lucy away for grand adventures. Not without anyone noticing she was gone. There was also the fact that when they all ventured inside the wardrobe, it had appeared to be thoroughly ordinary in every way. Ed had been so nasty and spiteful about it, but Susan had believed him all the same when he claimed that Lu was lying. Even though she had proved herself to very truthful in the past. Until the Professor convinced her that maybe Lucy wasn't lying after all, Su had found it hard to believe her sister. Especially as her talk of Narnia was quite different to what the Doctor had spoken of. He spoke of time and space, not other worlds where time was shorter or longer than it was in England.

But of course Lucy had been right all along while Edmund had been telling horrid lies. The world within the wardrobe, Narnia itself was more amazing with every day they spent there. Sometimes, she wondered how it would compare with what lay just beyond the doors of the Doctor's Tardis. How could anything compare with a whole world inside a wardrobe that was filled with magic and wonder. Every day was so full of excitement, seeing new things and a few battles besides that. It wasn't until after they were crowned that she thought much about the Doctor at all.

For the first few years she had expected to see the Doctor appear, even though they were far from England. Far from anything they had ever known before. But as the years dragged on and she grew older thoughts of the Doctor grew fainter, until she barely thought of him at all. A blue door might bring a thought forth once in a while but she was a Queen, she had duties and many other things to attend to. What was a strange man she met once or twice compared to that? There were battles to fight, countries to visit and even many vying for her hand in marriage.

Often when her siblings went off to fight Susan was left behind to govern Narnia in their stead. She passed many laws and achieved much on her own, without the input of her fellow Kings and Queen. For they trusted her judgement and knew she would do what was right for their fair country. Sometimes she was the one who travelled to far off lands, always leaving at least one sibling behind to rule their country whilst the others were away.

Until that fateful day when they followed a white stag on a hunt and found the lamp post that marked the position of the wardrobe. It was then that they went against Susan's wishes, pushing through trees until they became furs and they tumbled out of the wardrobe. No longer Kings and Queens of Narnia, no longer grown to young adults in the prime of their youth. Only mere children who by the world's reckoning had not an hour before stepped into the wardrobe.

Tumbling out of the wardrobe was like returning to something you only half remembered and never thought you would return to again. It felt unnatural to be a child instead of a woman grown. Susan the girl child was just another mask she had to wear. It was no more real than the veneer of Queen she had hidden behind, when all she wanted to do was fret about what battles her siblings had ridden into.

But they could never go back, they had tried so many times to return to Narnia, to return to who they had been. They were stuck in the world they had been born to, where it felt more like a curse, a prison or a nightmare then somewhere they belonged. How were they supposed to forget Narnia? How were they supposed to go back to being children, to forget that they should be so much older? To keep from chafing when they were treated as something lesser because of their perceived age?

Sometimes she caught herself wondering what would have happened if they had turned away when they caught sight of the lamp post. What if they had stayed in Narnia? Would they have been forced to return to this world by another way? Or would they have stayed until they grew old and grey, before eventually passing from the world as all creatures must do. Although the Professor seemed certain that they would return to Narnia one day, they still had to adjust to being children again.

The others seemed content to talk about it amongst themselves and with the Professor, but Susan could feel it all slipping away way. The memories growing fuzzy and distant like it might have only been a dream after all.


	5. An Eleventh Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan and the Doctor didn't always meet in the same order or when Susan first met a different Doctor.

Susan sat in a corner of the gardens, tucked away from the rest of the world. In particular her boarding school and all the students and teachers within it. Some might call it hiding, but she called it regaining her sanity. Ever since they had fallen back out of the wardrobe everything had been harder, everyone looked at her and saw a girl, a child. But inside she was a woman who had grown up long ago and more than that her own body was unfamiliar to her. She had become accustomed to a certain height; a certain level of skill with bow and the grace needed for dancing, to a regal bearing one needed to move gracefully whilst wearing a full length dress and heavy crown. It was all lost to her now.

She felt too short, her arms too weak. She had lost her former grace and felt more like a clumsy young elephant than anything else. No matter how much she tried to once again be comfortable in her own skin, she couldn't help feeling like this body that had been hers since birth belonged to someone else. That she was stuck like this was a dismal thought, that she might never regain her former grace was an even bleaker one.

She tried to be school girl Susan but it felt like a lie and it seemed that everyone could tell, saying she was out of character. When she herself felt like her own behaviour was the most natural thing in the world. The entire thing was suffocating and there seemed to be no end in sight, could anyone blame her for sneaking off for some time alone? Where she could be herself without the need to pretend to be someone that felt like a impostor in this strange land. A place that only months ago, yet also years ago she had called home.

And to make things worse she was alone, no Peter or Edmund and no Lucy either. Her little sister still deemed too young to be sent off to boarding school. At least Peter and Edmund had each other, just like it had been before Lucy had come along to turn three siblings into four. Susan had never missed Lucy more than this moment. There was no one to talk to about it, to keep Narnia alive in her heart. Was it a wonder she could feel the lucky country slipping away from her? But if she lost Narnia and still felt like an interloper in her own body what would she have left?

The only ones she could talk to were so far away. And from the time they had spent together after Narnia, before the three eldest left for boarding school, it hadn't felt like they understood what Susan was going through. She didn't really understand why their experiences were so different to her own. Perhaps it had something to do with their bonding while they were away in Narnia, when they went off to battle, leaving Susan behind to govern for them. Even then she had felt like the odd one out.

The others had become more familiar with fighting and death, while Susan felt uncomfortable with it and shied away from the violence wherever possible. Yes, she knew it was necessary sometimes but that didn't mean that she had to like it, she would never like it. Or the reasons why violence existed in the first place.

The little garden corner was the only place she could be completely herself. Not a Queen, not a sister, not a schoolgirl just solely Susan Pevensie. As she sat there with her eyes closed, letting all the tension drain away on that lazy Sunday afternoon a stiff breeze rose up around her ankles. Up to her knees, higher and higher as a strange grinding noise rose and fell next to the stone bench she sat on. Her eyes snapped open as she turned her head to see a faint shade of a familiar blue police box slowly appear. Where only moments before there had been a bare patch of grass. She stared at the box in wonder as it gradually grew clearer until the box was as solid as she was. Standing up she stood in front of the door raising a hand to knock. It opened before her knuckles could come into contact with the wood, hitting a hard but fleshy substance instead.

"Ow what was that for?" Susan snatched her hand away from the man she had just knocked on as he raised both hands to clutch at his forehead.

"I didn't mean too, I was aiming for the door." Crossing her arms in front of her chest she glared at the man who looked absolutely nothing like the Doctor. Instead of a pinstripe suit and tie with a long brown jacket, this man wore a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows, a red bow tie and suspenders. He had dark brown eyes instead of blue and a square jaw instead of a clever little chin. His hair stuck up even more than the Doctor's hair did although Susan hadn't thought that was possible.

The man's mouth hung open as he stared at Susan. His eyes darted around to take in her wide brimmed school hat paired with her own clothes and the sunny English garden. "Where am I?" He took a step out of the Tardis, Susan backing up so he didn't walk into her.

"You're at my school." She answered shortly, still wondering who the strange man that walked out of the Doctor's Tardis was.

He leaned forward peering closely at her face as Susan stared back at him, his brow furrowed in a frown. "Susan?"

Su took a number of steps away from the strange man who knew her name. "Yeees." She answered uncertainly, asking some questions of her own. "Who are you and where is the Doctor?"

His face took on a decidedly hang dog expression at her questions. "But Susan I am the Doctor, I've just got a new face is all," he reached up to stretch his own cheeks and grinned at her. "See?"

Susan stared at him in confusion, how could he have a new face? Not even in Narnia could someone change their entire being like this. "I don't believe you," she put her hands on her hips and glared at the so called Doctor.

The man pouted at her not liking her disbelief in him one bit. He rubbed his chin with one hand as he spoke, seemingly more to himself than to Susan. "I could show, you the inside of the Tardis but there's a new desktop to go with my new face... I could.."

Su interrupted him before he could go on . "But I've never been inside the Tardis before, so how would I know what it looked like?"

He stared at her opened mouthed, a silly grin stealing over his face as he spoke. "Oooh this is it then?" Though he asked a question it wasn't Susan it was directed at, rather it was directed at the world at large.

"Is this what?" Susan asked in annoyance, who did he think he was? Oh that's right he thought he was the Doctor but she was still far from convinced.

His eyes lit up with excitement as he spoke. "I always wondered what your reaction was the first time you saw the inside of the Tardis. Since the first time I remember you looking inside, you had already seen it." His shoulders slumped somewhat as he peered at her through his fringe. "You were rather dismissive actually and that wasn't very nice of you at all."

Susan nodded at his words, but didn't comment on them as she still remained unconvinced that this man was who he claimed to be. "You still haven't proved anything you know."

"Hmm." The man tapped his chin as he stared at her, thinking about all the things he knew about this younger doubting Susan. After a moment his eyes lit up as he pointed at her with his hand cocked like an imaginary gun. "Does Narnia mean anything to you yet?"

Susan's eyes widened with surprise as her mouth fell open, "How do you know about Narnia?"

He grinned as he spoke. "Because you told me about it of course, I am a time traveller after all."

"But I haven't told anyone about Narnia yet, how can you know all about it?"

He shook his head, the floppy fringe falling in his eyes so he peered at her through a layer of hair. "We don't always meet in the same order and this would be the first time for you, meeting a much older me."

Susan stared at the man in confusion, the Doctor was equally confusing and she wouldn't tell just anyone about Narnia. However there was far more to Narnia than a mere name. If he really was the Doctor and knew about Narnia, he would know everything. Su stepped away from him, sitting back in her place on the bench and patting the space beside her. "Why don't you tell me about Narnia then?"

The man straightened his jacket and wiped his face with one hand before stalking over to the seat, with a strange slightly bow legged gait. "I've known you for a long time now so I know more than you do, I'm not really sure what point in your own life you're at."

Susan rolled her eyes at him as he sat next to her. "You had better not use that as some sort of excuse mister." He shook his head and began to speak about the Kings and Queens of Narnia. There were a few names that were unfamiliar but he focused mainly on the White Witch and the battles against her. Susan listened to her own story falling from someone else's lips with astonishment. Putting her hands on his arm as he mentioned falling out of the wardrobe. "Stop... "

He moved his arm making her hand slide down until he could hold it in his own hand. "Is that were you're at? Did you just fall out of the wardrobe?"

Susan cupped his hand in both of hers, looking down at her finger tracing a circular pattern over his palm. "It's been a month or so and I feel.."

His other hand covered hers as she raised her head to stare at him. "You feel like a stranger in your own body." He squeezed her hands as he continued. "I know what it feels like to expect your body to move in a certain way but end up tripping over your own feet instead. To have people look at you like you're someone they don't know any more, as if you were a stranger to them. To look so young on the outside and yet be so very old on the inside where no one else can see it. For things you used to love to taste terrible and needing to find out who you are all over again."

He may have struggled to determine who he was after a regeneration but at least his people knew what to expect. It was more his human companions that struggled in the beginning to see that he was the same person, underneath the new packaging. But poor Susan hadn't expected it at all and no one else outside a select few knew that she had changed in the first place. While the others expected her to be the same as she had always been and couldn't understand why her behaviour had been permanently altered.

Susan looked down at their hands as she spoke. "How do you know all this? It sounds like you're speaking from experience."

He nodded, "I told you I'm the Doctor, same old Doctor just wrapped in a whole new package."

She looked up at him. "How can this be? I've never heard of anyone changing like that before, not even in Narnia."

He squeezed her hand as he gave her an earnest look. "My dear Susan, my people the Time Lords have this ability called Regeneration. When we die we can change into a new person, we still remember who we used to be but we have a whole new body, a new personality and even new likes and dislikes. It took ages to figure out what my new mouth thinks tastes nice."

She nodded at his words maybe he did know what was going on with her. He seemed be very blase about changing into a new person so this was probably not the first time. But as she was not sure what to say about the Regeneration he spoke of so she chose focus on herself first. "So I told you all about Narnia and how I feel?"

He brightened as Susan questioned where he had learned so much about her, perhaps she was starting to come around. "Yes you told me many things but it all boils down to feeling like your body is not your own any more. That you lost it when you fell out of the wardrobe. That some days Narnia feels like a dream and you're stuck in the nightmare where everyone thinks you're a child."

Susan's blue eyes filled with tears as she stared at the man who knew she wasn't what everyone else saw. "Who do you think I am?" She wasn't entirely sure that this man was the Doctor as he claimed to be. But apart from her own siblings and the Professor he was the first who didn't treat her like a silly little girl who knew nothing about the world. That in itself earned him her respect. If he wasn't the Doctor he could possibly be a friend, who she didn't have to pretend to be someone else with.

"I've known you at a number of different ages. But from the time I knew about Narnia I have always seen you as a young woman who often deserves more respect than she is given." He grinned at her as she gave him a watery smile. "Do you believe me now oh Queen of the Golden Age?"

"Stop it." Su gave his shoulder a gentle bump with her own as she rolled her eyes at him. But something he had said made her stop for a second. "The Golden Age? People only call things a Golden Age after they are long gone, like the Elizabethan era. How long will we be gone from Narnia before we return to it?"

His strange dark eyes widened as he stared at Susan with his mouth gaping wide open, he shut it with a snap turning away from her. "We should stop talking about Narnia before I say anything else."

Susan's gaze roamed over the unfamiliar face trying to see the Doctor she knew in him. "Say I believe you, say it's true. What are you doing here?"

He turned back to look at her. "I'm not really sure what I'm doing here, I only meant to take a short trip to the moon. But the Tardis sometimes has ideas of her own about where I should be or where I can't go. She must have known that you needed me."

Susan looked up from his face to the TARDIS behind him. "How can a space ship in a box be sentient? Isn't it a machine?"

The man grinned at Susan as he stood up and offered her his hand. "Ah but she is far more than just a machine and machines will do so many wonderful things in the future."

Susan took his hand with some hesitation. He seemed to be talking nonsense but the last time she had spoken to the Doctor she hadn't completely understood what he said that time either. "Will I see this future you speak of?"

He stopped walking and turned back to look at her with an expression she couldn't fathom on his strange unfamiliar face. "How about we go visit the moon this time?" He asked, the smile he gave her didn't seem to reach his eyes, _What was bothering him?_ Susan got the feeling that he wouldn't tell her and she would have to wait to find out in her future, which was his past. She was still a little sceptical about if this man really was the Doctor or not, but who else could he be?

As he paused at the door to the Tardis, his free hand caressing the wood he looked back at Susan with a secretive little smile she couldn't interpret. He pulled her gently to a specific spot and let go of her hand turning to face her, one hand on the door handle and a wide silly grin on his face. "Welcome to the Tardis." He flung the door open with great grandeur. As if his gesture should have been accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets and cheering.

Susan stood in the doorway staring at the room beyond that took up far more space than it should, compared to the size of the box on the outside. If Susan had not been already been inside a wardrobe that held an entire world inside it, she might have been a bit more impressed. But no matter how big this Tardis was inside she was quite sure the wardrobe had it beat hands down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovely Readers, especially those who have subscribed, bookmarked or left kudos. I know the updates have been few and far between but I have resolved to do better this year and post at least one chapter per month, although I'm not going to stick to a certain date. 
> 
> There will be a new fandom and characters added in the next few chapters, anyone care to guess what/who it is? 
> 
> I have already written some things that will crop in the future but it will take a while to get to as some bits are when Susan is a Great Grandmother ;) Yes I have planned this as a veeery long series spanning decades and adding/revisiting a few more fandoms along the way.


	6. Fly me to the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Doctor told Amy he took a quick trip to the moon he failed to say it was in 1940 and he wasn't alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are new chapter with one day to spare :)

Susan paused on the threshold, her face bathed in orange light as he loomed behind her so close she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck.

"Magnificent isn't she?" He asked with a quiet reverence that seemed at odds with his jovial demeanour. It wasn't exactly the word she would have used Susan thought as she slowly walked further into the room. The man squeezed in behind her and headed excitedly for the centre of the room. The door closing behind him with a bang that echoed through the enormous space.

True to his word it was very different on the inside to what was on the outside. The walls were yellow, except for where they were dotted with hexagonal recesses, with lights shining out of them. Metal stairs led up to a platform and as Susan walked up them she saw that the floor was made of glass, so she could see the metal supports holding it up and the central column continuing down below to the floor of the Tardis.

The column continued up above to the ceiling, most of it a hollow glass tube filled with blue light and a number of glass spheres melded together. Surrounding the column on the glass floor was a yellow thing much like a table, covered by curious objects. A few of them looked familiar like; hot and cold taps, a shop counter bell, a gramophone horn, a regular bell and a typewriter. Yet others defied description, all that could be said about them was that some moved and others possessed blinking lights. While some of these objects sat on the yellow surface others sat on glass panels, covered in a circular pattern that showed gears and blinking lights beneath it.

Susan stood at the top of the stairs, her eyes following the glass pillar up to the ceiling. Where it was surrounded by increasingly larger silver circles, until they met the metallic concertina pattern that filled the rest of the area. Her gazed drifted down again to take in the stairs leading away from the central platform to other places that existed beyond her view. It was fantastical and altogether wonderful. Yet at the end of day it was still one room of many that could not quiet compare with her beloved Narnia. The man fiddled with the various objects within his reach as he waited for her to say something. But as the silence grew he couldn't keep himself from asking. "Well what do you think?"

Susan's gaze turned to meet his as she grinned at him. "It is rather wonderful and very shiny." Everywhere she looked she saw a shining surface, as if it were brand new and yet to be dulled with use. Which she supposed it might be, if this man was the brand new Doctor, then this was his shiny new Tardis. But she wasn't entirely convinced that he was the Doctor with a new face as he claimed. She might be more open to the strange and fantastical after her journey through the wardrobe, but her imagination had its limits.

"That's it? That's all you have to say about the Tardis?" The man asked in disbelief. "Look at her, she's bigger on the inside," He waved his arms around wildly to encompass their entire surroundings.

Susan shrugged and sat on the chair she had just noticed near the railing around the raised platform. "Well yes I can see that but I have just spent many years on an entire world inside a wardrobe. This is rather small compared to that."

"Rather small?" he leaned on the table behind him and crossed his arms muttering to himself. All Susan managed to catch was the occasional word that consisted of. "I never... why I bother... Donna..."

Susan grinned, watching him until he ran out of steam. "If you're quite finished you have yet to prove beyond a doubt that you are in fact the Doctor." He spluttered at her as she gave him a wicked smile, enjoying rendering him speechless, as she hadn't enjoyed much of anything since becoming a child once again.

"Proof? You want proof do you?" He stood up and paced up and down, with his hands behind his back before turning on his heel to point at Susan with a loud. "Ha!" Susan stared at him, her eyes wide with surprise as he looked upwards and said. "Show me all records of the Doctor's current and previous regenerations." He reached out to grab her hands and pull her to her feet. Turning her to face the large circular window near the door that began to show the faces of different men.

At first it was so fast that Susan barely knew what she was looking at. Until it slowed to show a man with a wild look in his eyes, equally wild curly hair, a wide brimmed hat and a scarf. Susan watched the faces in silence as they ticked by until it stopped briefly on the Doctor she knew, flipping to the face of the man that stood next to her still holding her shoulders. As his face faded away to be replaced by the milky blankness the window had been before Susan looked up at him whispering. "Doctor?"

He grinned at her as he let go of her shoulders and opened his arms wide. Susan stepped forwards into his embrace and held on for dear life as her tears soaked his shoulder. The Doctor returned her hug as tightly as she did, his grip loosening much too soon for her liking. He patted her back for a few moments before reaching up to try and loosen her hold around his neck. "Come on now there's no more time for crying I have something to show you." Susan slowly let go, reaching up to wipe the tears from her eyes as the Doctor fairly skipped to the controls and began to press and flip things about. The grinding sound Susan had heard before rose around them, even though nothing else felt different at all. She had expected to feel something as they moved from the spot in the garden.

As she sank back into the chair the sound faded away again, the Doctor stepping away from the controls and holding out a hand to help her up. "I would offer you a space suit so we could go on a space walk. But what with the swimming pool ending up in the library before the remodelling I'm not sure where they got to. So we can only stand in the doorway and take a peek."

Susan shook her head as she took his hand letting him help her up. She didn’t bother to ask why the swimming pool was in the library as she doubted she would understand what he was talking about. As he lead her to the door she half expected to see the garden as he stepped forwards to fling open the doors, but what she saw as the wood swung away was completely alien.

She gasped at the grey rocky expanse that stretched as far as the eye could see, the darkness of the sky studded with brightly shining stars only made the emptiness more haunting and lonely. Like nothing she had seen anywhere else before, not even in Narnia. "Look." The Doctor pointed into the sky at a sphere of blue, brown and green that floated in the distance as one would expect the moon to if they were on earth. "That's the Earth there, full of people with no idea of what is out here beyond the stars."

Susan stared at the breathtaking sight, her hands clenched to her heart as she blinked back the dampness that pooled in her eyes. "It's so beautiful Doctor," she looked up at him with a wavering smile. "Can you take me there? Out among the stars?"

The brightness faded from his eyes as he stared past her at the stars filled with so much potential. "I'm sorry dear Susan but all I can give you is the moon."

She turned to grasp the lapels of his jacket as she glared up at him, letting the tears fall from her eyes. "Why Doctor? Why can't you take me away from this life where no one knows what I’ve been through, not even the ones that were there with me in Narnia."

He pushed her hands away, refusing to meet her gaze the Doctor walked to the stairs and stopped. "I'm sorry Susan but that's not your destiny."

Her hands curled into fists as she stared at his back. "To hell with destiny, what has it ever given to me? Nothing I could keep, nothing to hold onto."

The Doctor's shoulders slumped as he began to slowly climb the stairs. When he reached the top he clicked his fingers, the door behind her closing with a click as he did so. Susan scowled at the door barely resisting the urge to bang her fists on it. He brought her here to see something wonderful but she would never walk among that stars. She would return to a life that felt so stifling sometimes she thought she might die. And there was nothing he would do about it.

As he reached out to touch the controls to take them back to England the Doctor watched Susan stomp back to the chair with a heavy heart. Knowing he couldn’t change his own timeline and give her the answers she sought. As the sounds of the Tardis faded away he knelt in front of her, taking her hands and holding on tight as she tried to pull away. "We... I haven’t figured it out yet, not the me you will meet next time so I can’t tell you why yet."

Susan refused to look at him as he waited for a response. She had hoped that she could escape a life that didn't fit her anymore and the crushing blow of having that dream taken away was too much to bear. The Doctor squeezed her hands. "If you want to feel like your body belongs to you, you should do something about it and take up running. So you get to know how your body should feel again."

Susan tried to pull her hands away again, still refusing to look at him. This time he let her pull away, finally understanding a little of her attitude towards him when they met the next time for her and so long ago for him. "You should be getting back before someone misses you." He stood and walked to the opposite side of the platform, leaning on the rail as he watched her slowly stand up and straighten her back, walking regally out the door like the Queen she was.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I surprised myself and wrote / edited this in one day. Although Susan's anger surprised me a bit because I didn't plan that all.
> 
> Also I'm not sure if Screw destiny is right for 1940 if anyone has something better please let me know.


	7. Return to Narnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan tried to resist becoming too invested in Narnia, as if she could shield herself from heartbreak when they were forced to return to England.

_1941 - Age Thirteen_

Susan knew where they were from the moment things stopped being so very ordinary, when they found themselves on a sunny beach instead of dreary old London. While her siblings were confused by the ruins they found, her happy spirits sunk as she realised right away exactly where they were. She had known what they might find for months, that all those they had loved had died long ago. If their reign had been called the Golden Age, surely their time was long past. Yet she had not expected centuries upon centuries to separate them from all they had once known in Narnia. Though she knew where they were it pained her that she had to be the one to point it out to the others. Even when Lucy took it upon herself to show them all exactly where they stood and describe what used to be there, instead of tumbles of stone and grass struggling up through the cracks.

When Su had been reunited with the others after their time away at school, all they had wanted to talk about was Narnia. But upon mention of the Doctor all three of them had looked at her as if she were mad. So she had borne the knowledge of the loss of their beloved Narnian friends alone. Slowly coming to accept their passing just as she had gradually come to feel at ease with her once unfamiliar child's body. However for her siblings the realisation they had to come to in their own time, was sharp and sudden. A crushing blow after great joy at returning home, only to realise it was gone forever and now they belonged nowhere.

Although she rejoiced with her fellow Kings and Queen to be once again in their beloved Narnia and mourned lost friends in equal measure, Susan was also filled with dread. For as happy as they were to be back in the place they all felt they belonged, thanks to the Doctor she knew they would be forced to leave it all behind once more.

It had been lovely to hold her old familiar bow again, to once again feel her old familiar skill with her archery. Although she had taken up archery at school it had been a great bother to discover that while her head might have remembered how to fire a bow, her hands had been all thumbs. Until she had practised and trained hard to get to the level she felt she ought to be, instead of the rank amateur she would have been before stepping foot in Narnia. It had been a great shock to all of them to learn that any skills they had learnt in Narnia was not retained on their return. They had needed to re-teach their bodies everything that once been as simple as breathing.

She tried to feel present in the moments they had but she knew they had to leave again and it hurt too much think about. It would hurt worse this time, knowing what they would lose and what they were returning to. Nothing was the same, Narnia had a new King, there had been so many since they left. The High King and his siblings were nothing more than relics of a bygone era. A story that had faded into legend, so old that some doubted they had even existed at all.

Entire races that had been evil in their time were redeemed and valued the same as any other. The trees were silent, slumbering so deep she did not know if they would ever wake again. How could Aslan do this to them? Break their hearts when he sent them back to England and break them again when they came to a Narnia that barely recognised them. A Narnia that they didn't know at all, knowing that they would only have to leave it once again.

That was why it took her so long to see him, to see Aslan. She tried to close her heart to the beauty of their beautiful country. As if it would hurt less when it was time to say goodbye. Yet Caspian needed them to show him the way. To be his example of good and true rulers, unlike Miraz, the one he was unfortunate enough to call Uncle.

She hadn't expected to feel anything. She knew it was doomed before anything happened but how can one control their own heart? It doesn't care about the heartache to come, it cannot see the future that lies ahead. She knew he felt it too, but he was so young and couldn't see the path ahead either. He would get over her in time, and probably turn to dust before she aged much more, back on Earth once again. Her heart ached for a different kind of love. One she could hold on to, one where she wouldn't have to let go.

When Aslan told her and Peter that they would never return she merely bowed her head in acknowledgement of the inevitable, even as she blinked back the tears. The Doctor had told her he knew a much older Susan on Earth. How could she live that life if she was always dreaming of Narnia? It felt like her heart shattered into a million different pieces that could never be joined back together. Nevertheless she had to let Narnia go and look to future. She would drown in it if she clung too tightly to what she had lost, she couldn't have a future by dwelling in the past.


	8. Beginnings of Banishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan found it hard to adjust to life on Earth, with the hope of seeing Narnia again taken from her forever.

Susan felt as if she had lost something vital as a chapter closed on her life, one she could never go back to. They had been returned to England after a glorious time in Narnia where they not been pandered to as children, but treated as the Kings and Queens they were. The second time was both better and worse than the first time. It was better because Peter felt it too. The yearning for Narnia and knowing he could never go back, yet he still talked about it just as much as the others. It was better as she barely felt the disparity in her own body between before and after. They had hardly aged at all and she was still comfortable with her own self. Rather than tripping over her own feet and feeling like she would never be the same again. It was better because people already thought she was strange and that had not changed in the slightest.

However it was worse for the hope of ever seeing her beloved Narnia again, was gone forever. She only had her memories of what had been to keep her company. Now she only had one world to live in and not even the Doctor would be able to save her from the drudgery of everyday life. He had left her behind and said that they would both find out in the future, why she could not travel with him through space and time.

School life seemed so very dreary after the exciting wilds of Narnia. Having Lucy with her at school that year didn't do much to lift Susan's spirits. They spent as much free time together as they could talking about Narnia. Yet it was so bitter sweet for Susan, she had Lucy so she didn't feel so lost and alone. But as time went on, going on and on about a wonderful place she could never go back to except in her dreams began to hurt too much. Lucy could be excited however Lucy could also go back again. She hadn't been banned from the Lucky Country. Left to live the rest of her life with only the thought of once having been a Queen to sustain her.

While it was true that her year mates were also trying to figure out who they were and who they would be in the future. They didn't have to first forget who they had been, and could never be again. Letting go of that other life, full of so much certitude about her own place in the world for so much uncertainty was hard. Sometimes she felt she might drown under the endless possibilities of an unplanned life. Who would she grow up to be this time? Susan could not picture a different life for herself, outside the life of a Queen.

Many times it seemed that all her siblings wanted to talk about was Narnia. Every time they opened their mouths was a stab to the heart as she was reminded again and again what was lost to her forever, until she could not bear to be around them any longer. It was fine at school with the boys at their own school and Lucy years behind Susan so they only saw each other at mealtimes and in their own free time. Lucy had many new friends to keep her company, so Susan could quite easily avoid her own sister. But when they were all together again Susan could not bring herself to sit with them while they talked. Instead she would go to see what mother and father were doing or find some other excuse to make herself absent. Rather than stay with them while they spoke of Narnia with such hope and love.

Narnia was lost to Susan and Peter for there was no hope of a return trip. While Edmund and Lucy could go back again, a fact she couldn't help feeling jealous about. Once more she had to become a combination of Queen and girl child. Once more she had to return to a world that felt devoid of light and magic. It got to the point where she could not bear it any longer, the mere thought of Narnia. Lest she break down into a blubbering mess.

In the days that she could bear the thought of the Lucky Country she got out a blank book of brown and green like the forests and poured her heart out, writing down everything she could remember. As if by recording her thoughts, the memories would leave her mind and stop haunting her every step. Once she ran out of words she took another blank book and wrote the most important parts within the pages. Once she was finished she turned back to the first page.

_Dear Doctor,  
I cannot bring myself to speak the words as they are like boulders in my mouth and knives in my throat. But there are so many things about me you need to know. Once you do know it all we will not always meet in the same order. For I have met a much older Doctor who knew a much older Susan..._

The long years stretched ahead of her full of bleakness, who or what could she be now? What professions were available to a girl in the this day and age that would not feel vapid and meaningless? What would not feel beneath her after she had been a Queen? She wanted her existence to have meaning, to do something that helped people so she could feel useful. For though she wished to find someone. To be a wife and have a child she also needed a life, a purpose outside of keeping house and home.


	9. Schoolgirl Daze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School held little interest for a former Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May might have been and gone but here is that month's chapter. I will post another this month for June.

The days bled together as Susan paid just enough attention to her classes for a passing grade. Some classes covered things she knew standing on her head and others were passably interesting at best, after one has ruled an entire country anything less seems trivial. Besides Susan had been a Queen, not a mere child for a long time.

Most days she spent much of her time alone, dodging her overly chatty sister who would not stop talking about the things they had left behind. Or sneaking off to the boys school their brothers attended, that was separated from the girls school by a small forest. It was said to be haunted but Su didn't let rumours dissuade her. It had probably been started by the teachers to avoid any liaisons between students.

She did not sneak off to get cosy with anyone as she let the few who caught her believe. The only boy Susan saw had no romantic interest in her as he was her brother Edmund. He let her in to use their equipment, namely the archery range. In a world of guns and strapping men both young and old to use them it was a rather useless skill to gain proficiency with. However with each release of the string and each bullseye she hit Susan the school girl and the Queen were one and the same. Standing side by side with her brother, the King practising his own skills with the bow. She could almost imagine everything was as it had once been.

Spending time with Edmund like this did not feel like a chore, as he respected her wish to keep silent about Narnia. He only spoke of it with Peter and Lucy, something that annoyed Susan to no end as he never stood up for her with them. In many ways he was still the reluctant boy who hated to displease his siblings. As if the traitor he had once been did not deserve his own voice, even after all the years since the incident. When in truth he had long earnt his redemption and forgiveness.

On her excursions to visit Edmund and the archery range she walked past the tennis courts, often watching the players racing back and forth after the ball. But this time instead of two pairs she saw three people and one of them called out to her. "Hi it's Susan isn't it? Do you fancy being my partner? I'm afraid I've been stood up."

Susan stopped in her tracks as she thought about it. On one hand she was finally getting somewhere with her archery. When the fletching caressed her fingers and she pulled the string taught ready to fire, there was barely any difference between girl and Queen. But on the other hand she had been practically friendless since the first time she came back from Narnia. Although it hadn't bothered her before since she had her siblings and that had been more than enough. It was so very different now that Narnia was lost to her forever. She felt a need to be with people who had no idea of its existence. Edmund would understand, it wasn't the first time they had made plans and Susan hadn't been able to get away .

Her mind made up she smiled and waved at the girl. "Sure I'll partner you, as long as you're not expecting to win."

The blond waited until Susan got closer before she spoke again. "Oh I've seen you play and I don't think you're that terrible. I'm Hazel Branson by the way."

They didn't win the match but it was an enjoyable game and they were a well matched pair. Hazel invited Susan to be her partner for the next game in a few days time that Susan happily accepted. She would have also accepted the invitation to join the group for dinner. Save for the faint wheezing sound, that drifted in with the breeze from the trees that separated the girls school from the boys school. Although she had only heard the sound a scant few times before, Susan immediately knew what it meant. So instead if heading inside to satisfy her hunger she resumed her journey into the trees. Hunting not for any game to feed her growling belly but for a blue box that was bigger on the inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Briefly introducing an OC from another fandom.
> 
> Can you guess the fandom / her parents?


	10. Confined to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan meets a younger Doctor and he discovers that Susan cannot travel through time.

Susan was intimately familiar with the woods so it took no time at all to locate the blue box, something that had never been there on all her previous trips to and from the boys school. The Tardis looked different to how it had the last time she had seen it. Which made sense as the Doctor had promised that the next time she met him he would wear the face she had become familiar with, not the new one.

Her bag bounced against her hip as she headed for the door. Pushing it open she stepped inside to see that the interior was different too. The graceful supports that extended from the floor to the ceiling were graceful and organic, rather than boxy and mechanical. The soft blue lights in the centre around the glass column felt soothing, softening the harshness of the orange glow from the walls.

The Doctor looked up at her from where he stood next to the table in the middle of the vast room, his arm only halfway into the sleeve of his coat. "Susan what are you doing here?" He asked with a furrowed brow as she walked into the room and up the stairs to stand in front of him and peer up at his face.

"Hello Doctor, were you not expecting me?" She clutched at the strap of her bag with white knuckled fingers resisting the urge to punch him for something he had not done yet. Her emotions hidden under the calm collected mask of the Queen. Though she tried to be nice to this version of the Doctor she couldn't stop the biting remark that left her lips. “Will you ever say hello without frowning at me first?”

“Ah Susan it is unusual to keep running into the same person over and over again. When I have not invited them to travel with me. Usually I would ask you to come with me. But you seem rather young still."

Susan scowled at the Doctor's assessment of her age. "I am much older than you think I am." Reaching into her bag she ran her fingers over the three books inside until she felt right one, by the bookmark she had stuck in it. Fishing out the green leather bound journal, that chronicled her adventures in Narnia, she slapped the volume against the Doctor's chest. "Perhaps you should read about them." She snatched her fingers away as he reached up to grasp the book before it fell to the ground. She could control herself better if he was not so close to her. Dropping her bag on the ground and she sank onto the seat nearby as the Doctor turned the book over in his hands. "What is this about?"

Susan couldn't look at the Doctor as she spoke, instead she looked down at her hands as they twisted about in her lap. "There are things you need to know about me but I can't talk about them... I just can't."

The Doctor stared at her in silence for a few agonising seconds before he tucked the book away in his breast pocket. "Alright then, let's go somewhere shall we?" He grinned at her as he brushed past, reaching out to push a button here, or push a lever there. 

"Where shall we go?" She tried to sound happy and unconcerned about what he would think about the contents of the little green book. But she knew something would go wrong. Why else would the older Doctor have said that he couldn't take her with him, out among the stars.

"Anywhere you like." The Doctor grinned.

Susan tried to smile back at him as she said wistfully. "Somewhere new and wonderful."

The Doctor danced around the various objects on the table. "New and wonderful it is then." He paused beside a large lever his grin larger than ever as he slowly pushed it down. "And here we go." The grinding sounds of the Tardis rose around them but it sounded different this time as the Doctor's grin faded. "No no no no no no what's the matter?"

His movements became frantic as Susan grabbed her bag and sat it on her lap to make sure he wouldn't trip on it. "Is something wrong Doctor?"

"The Tardis won't leave your timeline, or Earth for that matter." He raised both hands to pull at his hair in frustration as he pondered the problem.

"Can we still go somewhere else?" Susan asked quietly. This was it, whatever the older Doctor wouldn't tell her was happening right now. Yet Susan was still none the wiser though the events were unfolding around her.

"Of course we can, but we'll have to keep an eye on the time so no one will notice you're missing. So this will be a short trip I'm afraid."

Susan nodded as she clutched her bag to her chest. A short reprieve from her dull ordinary school girl life was still better than nothing at all. "That shall have to suffice then."

"Do you have anywhere in mind?" The Doctor tapped his fingers on the table as he waited for her answer.

Susan looked over at him with a sly grin, finally feeling more comfortable in his presence. "Why don't you surprise me?"

"Hmm." He moved slower this time as he pulled levers and pushed buttons. As he reached over to push the large lever again the pair shared a grin. The grinding sounds rose around them and they were on their way.


	11. In America

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan makes a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does camp nanowrimo count as an excuse for missing July? At least this chapter is much longer than the last few have been and we are finally getting to the good stuff.

He lay in a familiar position, on the ground in an alley. A larger fellow beating on him because he dared to stand up for himself and those around him. As usual he had managed to get a few good licks in before he went down. Not letting something like being at a huge disadvantage keep him from taking on the bullies. However this time he had no friend to come along and bail him out. He struggled to stand up again, he would not stay on the ground while he was still breathing somewhat normally. As he struggled to stop wheezing up a lung, a rock came whizzing out of nowhere and clipped his opponent on the head.

"Why don't you pick on someone else!" The voice was young and definitely feminine. His opponent sneered at the girl he couldn't see from where he knelt on wobbly knees, clutching at the wall for support. He thought the coward handing out his beating might ignore the female who had come to defend him.

But another rock whizzed past his looming face close enough to graze his cheek as a male voice spoke as well. "I'd listen to her if I were you." His attacker threw him a glare that promised another beating, if he was spotted ever again before the guy turned tail and fled.

He slumped back against the wall and closed his eyes as two pairs of feet pounded towards him. A gentle hand rested lightly on his forehead as he opened his eyes to stare into concerned blue orbs. "Are you badly hurt?" She was young, much younger than him and British besides judging by the accent. _What is she doing here across the pond?_ He wondered as he tried to move a hand to brush aside the cool hand on his brow.

"Mn finm." He mumbled through his double split lip. Unfortunately the fact that he missed and smacked himself in the face might have said otherwise.

The man knelt down beside them waving something that let out a buzzing sound in his face. He failed at shoving it away too. "No broken bones but there is a lot of bruising and he will definitely feel it in the morning." The man said as he tried to peer up into his face but all he could see was a brown blur that moved further away.

"Thank you Doctor." The girl spoke to her companion as she pulled at his arms, trying to get him to sit upright. "He really did a number on you." She said as she lay a damp cloth on his forehead, wiping away the grime. It felt so good he couldn't stop the moan that escaped him as it cooled his hot brow. "What happened?" She asked quietly.

He shrugged, wincing as his shirt dragged on the rough bricks and pulled at the broken skin on his back. "Can't stand bullies an they don't like me much either." He stopped talking as she dabbed at his lips, pain shooting through him from the pressure on the broken skin.

She rummaged through her bag pulling out a brown bottle of iodine. "This might sting a bit." She apologised as she tipped the antiseptic onto a few cotton balls, dabbing at his face again. He hissed at the burning pain but tried to remain still as she cleaned his wounds. Once all the blood was cleared away and the cuts were disinfected she peered at his face and the broken skin on his knuckles. "I don't think you'll need any bandages or stitches as long as you keep your cuts clean and don't get into any more fights."

"I can do that." He agreed with a nod. The girl frowned at him as she packed the bag up. "Are you really going to keep out of a fight?"

He shrugged and gave her a wry grin. "I'll try my best I promise."

Susan shook he her head at his words, they have only just met but she didn't believe him one bit. He was rather like Pete or Edmund after they came back from Narnia. Neither of her brothers could stand on the sidelines when someone was hurt physically or with words. Neither would walk away from a fight either, not after they had figured out whose side they should be on. Of course Peter and Edmund were more able bodied that than this man. They were strong of mind and body, they had trained to fight in Narnia. Once they came back to Earth they had retrained themselves, until they could take a beating in any world.

While this man who was of an age to enlist in the war might be strong of mind, he was not strong in body. He was so scrawny she was sure she would be able to see his ribs if he were shirtless. His skin was pale and a little clammy which she wasn't entirely sure was from the fight. She could also hear a very slight wheezing when she had put her head near his chest. All this added up to someone who would be knocked back if he tried to enlist. From what she had seen Susan was quiet sure he would have tried at least once to join the biggest fight in the world.

"Please try harder than that." She placed an hand on his looking into his green eyes to try and make the message stick.

He looked away from her gaze as he muttered. "I'll try."

Susan sighed as she packed the bandages and other assorted things back into her bag. It was the same promise Ed and Pete made. The kind they meant in the moment, but would break immediately the next time they were faced with an injustice.

Susan stood up and dusted off her skirts as she looked around for the Doctor. Though she saw the brick walls that surrounded them, covered in a few scraggly posters and the man at her feet the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. "Can you stand?" She asked the sandy blond who still sat on the ground his head tilted back to look up her.

"Course I can." Though he spoke the man made no effort get up from his prone position, instead he squinted up at her. "You know we never even exchanged names."

Susan brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face as she gave him a rueful grin "Hmm you are absolutely right. We must rectify this oversight immediately. My name is Susan."

"Steve." His answering grin was smaller than it might otherwise have been to ensure he didn't split his lips any more than they already were.

Susan held out a hand to the newly named Steve. "Are you going to stay down there all day?"

He grasped her hand the other one resting on the wall as he slowly stood up. "I suppose not."

Once he was finally standing up mostly straight Susan was surprised to note that they were the same height. She had thought he would be taller than her as most men were in her life, for all that he seemed on the small side. Unfortunately she had yet to attain her full height once again, in this second round of puberty.

Steve straightened his shirt and dusted off his pants as he looked around too. "Where did that guy go? The Doctor?"

"I have no idea." Susan sighed as she fiddled with her bag. "But I hope he hasn't gone very far or I have no clue how I shall get home again."

"We'd better find him then." Steve shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the alley, Susan following close behind.

The pair stopped when the alley opened up to the street, staring at the man that leaned against the wall. He didn't look up at them, completely absorbed in the small green book he held in both hands. "Interesting enough for you?" Susan asked the Doctor with a grin.

"Hmm?" He looked up at them over his dark rimmed glasses. "Oh hello Susan when did you get here?"

"I've been close by the whole time Doctor, or did something else capture your attention?" She waved a hand at the book he still held in his hands. The Doctor looked down at the book then back at Susan.

 "It's an unusual tale with some parts I've not heard of before." Susan was both gratified and apprehensive about the Doctor's answer. He seemed to be taking her tale seriously but he had not finished it yet. At least for the moment he was not treating her any differently. And if the man he would be in the future was to believed once he knew everything she cared to tell him about Narnia, he would treat her as the woman she was, not a child like everyone else who saw her.

Steve watched the two of them talk, feeling awkward intruding on a private conversation. But he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye, that would be rude and his Ma had not raised him that way. He would have said thank you and walked away if it were not for Susan herself. She intrigued him and he wanted to know what she meant by needing the Doctor to take her back home.

So he cleared his throat interrupting the conversation as the two turned to stare at him. "I uhh just wanted to say thank you for patching me up." Steve shuffled his feet a bit as he continued. "And maybe I could buy you a coffee?"

Susan smiled at Steve as her stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly, to remind her she had skipped dinner. "I think I might need more than just a coffee." She didn't want Steve to think that she was angling for a meal since she didn't know if he could afford it. But her stomach would not be ignored.

"I can get you something Susan." The Doctor interjected as Steve opened his mouth.

"Oh Doctor you don't have to do that." Susan protested, thinking about the time he had bought her a pie.

"It would be my pleasure." The Doctor grinned brushing Su's concerns away. He waved a hand at Steve. "I assume you have a place in mind?"

 

* * *

 

The diner looked very different to a greasy spoon in England which excited Susan, since the beginning of their trip had looked much the same as England. They sat at a booth and as she looked over the menu she saw some recognisable things and many that Su had never heard of before. She stared at the menu with barely concealed glee, there were so many things available that had been missing from England for far too long.

Steve watched as Susan poured over the entire menu wondering how long it had been since she had eaten a meal that had not been touched by rationing. He also kept mulling over the question he was dying to ask, but he held on to it until they had ordered and their meals had arrived. Filling the time with small talk about the weather and inevitably the war. Being English Susan had of course been much closer to it than Steve himself. While she looked young she spoke with such maturity that he had to tell himself she was not old enough to be anywhere near the front line. Once their meals arrived and they had sated their hunger Steve asked Susan his question. "What did you mean before when you said you didn't know how you would get home without the Doctor?"

Su glanced at the man in question but he was still buried in her tales of Narnia. He had scarcely looked up to take his seat across from them in the booth and to order a tea that he only sipped once, making a terrible face at the taste. Americans did not make good English tea. Seeing he was no help at all Susan wondered how she could explain him and his time travelling spaceship. "The Doctor has his own special mode of transport that can move between England and America in no time at all."

Steve stared at her in disbelief. "You mean in a few hours?"

"No," Susan shook her head. "I mean in a matter of minutes."

"Seconds actually." The Doctor interjected as he closed the book and placed in it on the table. He clasped his hands on top of the green leather cover as he stared seriously at the pair. "Please don't spread it around though I don't make a habit of ferrying too many people around."

"How do you do it Doctor?" Steve asked. "I have never heard of anything that can take you half way around the world in seconds."

The Doctor's eyes glittered with glee as he spoke about his beloved Tardis. "Oh it can take you a lot farther than around the world. I can take you anywhere or any when you want"

"Just not me." Susan frowned down at her plate, running a single finger through the remaining sauce she found there. 

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry Susan but I'm still not sure why the Tardis reacted the way she did."

"I don't think you ever will Doctor or your older self wouldn't have been so evasive."

Steve stared at the pair in confusion what did Susan mean by the Doctor's older self? How could that be possible that she had talked to an older Doctor and was now talking a younger version of the same man.

They were interrupted by the sharp tinny ring of an alarm that emanated from Susan's bag. She scrambled to pull the clock out of her bag and turn it off as Steve and the Doctor stared at her along, with everyone else in the diner. Susan stared at the time for a second before stuffing the clock back into her bag and jumping to her feet. "I'm sorry Steve but we need to leave now." She headed for the door as she spoke, the Doctor following in her wake. Before Steve could see them out they were gone. Leaving him with unanswered questions and wondering if he would ever seen either of them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to worry this is not the last we have seen of Steve.


	12. Star Spangled Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make up wasn't the only thing Susan discovered in America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have changed the time line for Captain America slightly so Project Rebirth happens a year earlier than it did in the movie.

_1942 - Age Fourteen_

Susan raised a hand to poke at her cheek, watching the girl in the mirror match her movement. "Is that really me?" The face that stared back at her had her hair curled the way the American girls did. Rouge on her cheeks, mascara on her lashes and a rich red on her lips. She looked completely different to Susan the English school girl or the gentle Queen of Narnia. This face belonged solely in the here and now on Earth. It was the face of a girl who looked much older than the fourteen years her body had lived, yet younger than the twenty nine she was inside.

A face appeared on her left with golden blonde hair and makeup in a similar style, an identical one appearing on her right. "Do you like it?" The one on the left asked.

"I think she does." The one on the right replied as Susan spun around on the makeup chair to face the Aldrige twins, Gloria and Gladys. In the past year Su had grown very close to Hazel and as a result her entire family had taken to Susan as if she were a part of their family. That included Hazel's American cousins, who had taken Susan under their wings from the moment she arrived in America.

"Let's go" The pair chorused together as they both reached out to grab one of Susan's hands and pull her up.

"Where are we going?" Su asked as she was pulled from the room.

"To see Capitan America." said Glory.

"You didn't think we dolled you up for nothing did you?" added Gladdy.

 

* * *

 

While the dancing girls and Hitler punching were exciting to those around her, Susan only found it mildly amusing. She had been in real battles and war. True those battles had been with mythical creatures, not with tanks and guns. But either way it was nothing to sing about. War was hard, dirty and mentally draining, not glamorous in the least. Yet there was something about Captain America that drew her to him. For a second when he punched Hitler there was something about the way he moved that felt very familiar.

After the show was over the twins insisted the three of them get their photo taken with him. While they waited in line Su had ample time to watch him and to hear his voice as he talked to everyone. By the time it was her turn to stand next to him and smile for the camera she was sure she knew who he was. Although as she had seen him only a scant year before, this transformation could not be entirely natural.

She stood next to him and looked up into his green eyes as he stared down at her. "How did you get so tall Steve?"

The resigned look in his eyes, as if he expected her to be just another star struck girl, was swiftly replaced with recognition when he heard her voice and her accent. "Susan?" He asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"SMILE!" The photographer's call made them look towards the camera as the flashbulb went off.

As Susan was waved aside Steve caught her hand, urging her to look back at him. "Wait for me?" He asked quietly so no one else could hear. Susan nodded minutely and squeezed his had briefly before letting go.

How she managed to convince the twins to leave her behind was a bit of blur but finally she was alone. Soon enough she sat on the sidelines. Waiting patiently for a copy of her photograph and the man who was now called Captain America. 

Once the last few people wandered away Su stayed in her seat, still waiting. As Steve approached her he pulled his cowl off, running a hand over his head. She raised an imperial eyebrow as she gave him a swift look up and down. "I must admit when I was told we were going to see Captain America I never expected it to be you."

Steve nodded as his cheeks reddened slightly. "Frankly I never expected it to be me either." He shrugged his massive shoulders as he stared off into the distance for a moment. "I was a part of a project that transformed me into the perfect human specimen. What I might have been at the peak of health if I hadn't been so sick."

"So what are you doing here?" Susan asked curiously, "Surely this was such a success that they would want to replicate it?"

Steve nodded again in agreement. "Oh they did but it was Dr Eskine's project and without him they can't recreate his formula. So it was either this or become a lab rat."

Susan reached out to squeeze Steve's hand with her own. He seemed so very lost in that moment and she could feel how much he missed the good Doctor. "I think you'd make a very handsome lab rat but I understand why you chose something else."

Steve smiled sadly as he wrapped his large hand around her much smaller one. "You're one of the few then, others think I'm shirking my duty. But they didn't want just one man, they want an army."

"One man can be an army." Susan said, thinking about how Peter took on Miraz so their army didn't have to fight. Not that things had worked out that way, but one man could still inspire a nation.

Steve didn't answer her, only squeezed her hand tightly before reaching out to help Susan up. "Shall we take this elsewhere?"

Su smothered a giggle with her hand, as she looked up and down at Steve in all his red, white and blue glory. "Don't you want to get changed first?"

He looked down at himself with a frown before giving her a sheepish grin as he ran a hand through his hair. "That's probably a good idea. Want to come back stage for a bit?"

Susan thought about it, picturing how chaotic is must be back there with so many people in costume and so on. Shaking her head she motioned for him go on back without her. "If we're going to keep talking I should let someone know where I'll be."

Steve nodded in agreement as he put the cowl back on his head. "Ok, I'll meet you back here soon?"

Susan nodded in return as she waved him off. "I'll be here."  

After calling her parents to let them know where she was Susan didn't have to wait too long for Steve to reappear. Looking more like a normal person than the show performer he had been previously. He held out his arm for Su to place her hand in the crook of the elbow. "There's a little cafe around the corner if you're hungry?"

Susan tucked her hand in his arm as she spoke. "I would love a cup of tea, and I imagine you need to refuel." Steve must have used a lot of energy dancing around on stage. Susan only had to think of how much her brothers would consume after a good fight whilst they were in Narnia.

"That's very true." Steve agreed as he lead her to the cafe. On their leisurely walk they talked about what Susan had been doing in America. With Steve making suggestions for where else she could go. The conversation stayed light and cheerful until they were safely ensconced in a booth. Steve with a pile of sandwiches and Susan with a tea that was subpar to any British citizen.

Once they were alone Susan asked the question she had been wanting to ask since Steve told her he chose to cavort on stage, instead of being a lab rat. "If you could choose anything, what would you do with your life? Neither of your options seems much like you."

Steve swallowed his mouthful before answering. "Right now I want to be out there in the fight, trying to win the war. I want to do something useful and help my country." He played with the sandwich in his hands, squashing into a sad flat thing. "I can't really think about after the war right now, who knows what that world is like."

Susan nodded as he ate his flattened sandwich. "I know exactly what you mean. But at least you know what you can do to help." She stirred her tea, staring at its depths instead of taking a sip. "I don't know what to do with myself after I finish school. I want to do something more meaningful than being a secretary."

Steve nodded but kept ploughing through his pile of sandwiches with a thoughtful look on his face. After he took a long drink, while Su tried not to squirm as she waited for his answer he finally spoke. "How do you feel about nursing? I remember how good you were at it when we met."

"Nursing?" Susan asked with surprise, in Narnia it was Lucy with her little bottle of cordial had been seen as the healer. But not all injuries had been serious enough to need magical intervention. Susan herself had patched up many wounds the regular way, with ointments and bandages. So it had been almost instinct at that point when she had met Steve and tended to his wounds. "I have not considered it before. But it might be something to think about."

Steve nodded as he waved the waitress over. "You were very good at patching me up when we met." After he ordered another coffee Steve asked Susan. "Can you tell me more about the Doctor? You both left so fast last year and I'm not sure I understand about him at all."

Su laughed at that. " At least you only had to wait a year. It took me years to get a good idea of who he is."

Steve shook his head. "You have more patience than I do." Susan grinned. "Oh you have no idea at all. But it is a long story, are you sure you have time?"

Steve looked up at the clock as he thought about when he would need to don his costume again for next performance. "Will a couple of hours be enough time?"

Su shrugged as she contemplated whether she would need to tell him about Narnia as well as the Doctor. It might help Steve to understand about why she was so ready to believe a man with a different face. As well as explain more about Susan herself. "I make no promises but we can at least try."

And so Susan told Steve about both the Doctor and Narnia. But by the time she was finished they had to leave in a rush so Steve could get ready for the next show. Leaving no time at all for him to properly process or to discuss everything Su had told him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have written a little something about Susan on the day of the train crash that is not a part of this series. You can check it out [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7819396).


	13. Tales of the Dawn Treader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan could not bear to hear Lu and Ed tell their stories of the Dawn Treader over and over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who read the previous chapter in the first few days after it was posted I have added to it since then.

On returning to England and reuniting with her siblings they didn't seem to care at about her all, or what she had been doing in a foreign country. All they could talk about was Narnia. Namely Lucy and Edmund's grand new adventure with cousin Eustace of all people. She listened to their tale with a pain her heart every time Lu or Ed spoke of Caspian, Trumpkin or Reepicheep. They had been reunited with the friends they had made in their second visit. Instead of finding themselves in a world where all those they had loved where long dead and buried. And they had been on the sea, sailing to so many different islands, that had changed so much since the time Susan had visited them during the Golden Age of their reign.

Su tried to be happy for her younger siblings and to enjoy the stories, they told with such enthusiasm. Yet she couldn't push aside the feelings of jealousy, the hurt of hearing it all second hand instead of experiencing it herself. Peter didn't seem to share her pain. Milking the pair for every last detail until it was almost like he had been there with them. While Susan could not bear to hear the tale repeated over and over. Each time only served to remind her of what she had been denied.

She was bitterly disappointed in the three of them when they couldn't see how much she didn't want to hear about it for the tenth time. How being banned from their beloved world did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. When she heard that Edmund and Lucy's time in Narnia was as finished as hers and Peters. She was a fool to think that anything would change. That any of them might be practical and take the lion's words to heart. To live in the world they found they found themselves in and make the most of it .

But all three of them refused to leave Narnia in the past. They kept hoping and dreaming that they might see it again. Although the great lion Aslan himself had told them it was impossible. Narnia had been a lovely place and she would always treasure her memories of the wonderful times she had spent there. But she had to move on and find her place on Earth. It would not do to lose herself in useless dreams. She was better than that they were all better than that. But they failed to see it, to truly take their place in the world


	14. Midnight Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes being friends with a time traveller comes in handy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loyal readers might have noticed I didn't post a chapter last month. But I do have a chapter this month.

_1943 - Age Fifteen_

Susan stepped out of the Tardis and looked around with curiosity. The Doctor had appeared in her bedroom, close to midnight. It was lucky she been at home for the holidays and no longer shared a bedroom with Lucy. Otherwise his arrival would have created quite a stir. As it was she could only hope he would return her to bed before anyone noticed she was missing.

The bright light of a full moon filtered down through the tall trees to dapple over the ground. It would have almost been beautiful except for the bodies that lay everywhere. Su stared in horror until she realised that they were just asleep and not dead as she had first thought. Each body belonged to man who looked haggard and worn. They all had dirty clothes and faces, twitching in their sleep as if they were reaching for the guns that lay beside them. It didn’t look like they had much in the way of supplies. As they all slept rough, rolled up in their clothing and lying on the bare ground.

The cocking of rifle drew her gaze to the man who pointed it at her a frown marring his otherwise handsome face. He looked confused. As well he might be seeing a girl standing in the doorway of a blue police box in the middle of a forest. Surrounded by sleeping soldiers.

“How did you get here?” The soldier asked staring at her, as if she were a dream. Susan opened her mouth to speak when they both heard pounding feet from behind him. She stared at the owner of the feet with astonishment as the soldier kept his rifle trained on her.

“Steve?” The rifle never wavered as his eyes darted from her to the side. Where Steve Rogers of all people skidded to a stop beside him.

Steve put his hand on the other man’s arms forcing him to lower his rifle. “Susan?” He asked moving past the man and walking slowly towards her. “What are you doing here?”

Su clutched the door frame as she shrank back past the threshold, not liking the look in the other’s eyes. None of the men on the ground had awoken yet, they must have been bone tired to be sleeping like the dead. Steve reached Susan where she stood in the doorway of the Tardis. He rested a hand on the door frame as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“The Doctor said there was somewhere we needed to be,” Susan glanced around at the men spread across the ground. “But I’m not sure this is where he had in mind.”

Steve grinned at her as he shook his head. “Does the Doctor ever end up where he actually wanted to go?”

Su grinned back. “It doesn’t seem like it does it?”

“Steve what the hell is going on?” The soldier asked from behind them.

Steve turned back to him with a sheepish grin. “Sorry Buck. This is the girl I was telling you about Susan Pevensie.”

The soldier moved closer to the pair by the Tardis, lowering his rifle. “You never said she could appear out of thin air.”

Steve shook his head again as he reached out a hand to grasp one of Susan’s hands and tugged her gently out of the Tardis. “Susan this is my best friend Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.”

The Sergeant gave Susan a salute and a grin. “Call me Bucky.”

Su gave Bucky a little wave in return as she moved away from the Tardis to look at the pair that stood before her. “What is going on here?” She asked them waving a hand to indicate the slumbering men all around them.

“We are behind enemy lines trying to get back to base camp.” Steve answered her, as Bucky turned around muttering about getting to his watch. He gave Susan and Steve a salute as he left, his curiosity assuaged for the moment. Though Steve knew he would be peppered with questions later.

Susan looked around her with greater understanding. Many of the figures around them appeared malnourished. “How many of you are there?”

Steve leaned on one side of the Tardis as he spoke. “Over four hundred of us, Is that too many to pack into the Tardis?”

Susan joined him in his position leaning on the Tardis, facing Steve. Although there was barely any space for her to fit, even when Steve shuffled back a bit. “Possibly, though how would you explain it? Or how would we explain the Doctor.”

Steve nodded in agreement. “It wouldn’t be so bad if we had more food and medical supplies. We haven’t run into too many enemy forces on the way but we are running short of supplies.”

“I wish we could help with that.” She murmured as a loud bang echoed from the Tardis. They looked around worriedly at the sleeping men around them, hoping the sound wouldn’t wake anyone. But as they stepped away from the walls of the Tardis the sound faded until they couldn’t hear it at all.

Susan headed for the door, stepping inside as she called. “Doctor?” The banging sound came back with a vengeance as soon as she crossed the threshold, Steve following behind. He stared at the room that was far larger than the box he had just seen beyond the doorway. It was exactly how Susan had described it and yet it was also more amazing than a mere description could ever be. He would have kept gawking at the sight, his fingers itching to sketch it all. But Susan was about to turn a corner and he had to pick up the pace to keep up with her, lest he be lost in an amazing yet possibly endless maze.

“Susan! Can you give me a hand?” They followed the voice and the banging down many corridors. The room they found was filled with wooden crates, overflowing with fruits and vegetables or canned goods. Cool air radiated from the room as the Doctor used an unfamiliar contraption, that floated off the ground. As they watched he manoeuvred a crate to an empty patch of floor with a curious circular design.

Steve stared at the man Susan had called the Doctor. He knew that he could change his face but seeing it was another matter altogether. He nudged Susan, being mindful of his strength, even after a year it often felt new to him. “Is that really the Doctor?”

“Hard to believe it isn’t it?” Susan replied, “But I promise he is still the Doctor.” As the pair entered the room they could see that a few of the crates held bandages and other medical supplies, instead of food stuffs. “Doctor what is this?” Susan asked as she wound her way through the crates, heading towards where she could see the floating machine and the man perched on the seat.

Steve still followed at her heels as the Doctor waved his arms to encompass the whole room. “You told me I’d need to do it and so I did.”

“I did?” Susan asked doubtfully.

The Doctor tugged on his bow-tie as he spoke. “Well that is the older you did. You gave me a photo and told me that when the man in the photo held a gun on you I would know it was time.”

“Time for what Doctor?’ Steve asked.

"To bring out the food and supplies for over 400 men.”

Su and Steve shared a grin as they looked around at everything. It would certainly help Steve’s men survive being stuck behind enemy lines and get them all safely back to base camp. “That is going to be a big help thank you.” Steve looked around at everything in awe, “But how are we going to get this all outside? How am I going to explain this to everyone?”

Susan shook her head with a grin. “I think they will accept anything you say. They’ll just be so grateful to have supplies that I doubt they will care too much where they came from.”

“I suppose.” Steve agreed, “But I still don’t know how we will get all this out of the Tardis. It would take all night to move all this through those corridors we had to walk through on the way here.”

“Ah but we won’t have to.” The Doctor grinned as he gestured grandly to the area of the room that was devoid of any crates. “This will get them all to the console room and then all we have to do is get them out of the door.” Su and Steve both looked at the bare floor but couldn’t see anything that made any sense to them.

“What is it Doctor?” Susan asked, wondering what he was trying to tell them.

“It is a matter transport, there is another one in the control room. You put something in one end and it comes out of the one it is linked to.”

Steve looked confused at Doctor’s explanation and Susan was only a little better. Leaning in towards Steve she whispered. “Just smile and nod or he might give a whole speech.” They both looked at the Doctor and nodded in unison.

“Sure.” Steve muttered as the Doctor beamed at them.

Steve rubbed at the back of his head with one hand as he looked at the Doctor. “Can you move the Tardis a bit so it’s not so close to my men?”

“That might be a good idea since you landed the Tardis in the middle of a group of them.” Susan agreed. “If we start moving crates out they might wake up and notice something. It’s a miracle that no one has woken up as it is. ”

The Doctor nodded in agreement. “Where can I move it to?”

Steve thought for a moment. “I know the perfect place. Do we need to go for a walk so I can show it you?”

The Doctor shook his head. “No all I need for you to do is take Susan there and I can home in on the signal from her key.”

Susan frowned at him as he spoke. “But Doctor I don’t have a key.”

“Hmmm you don’t? But I do give you one at some point because as I recall one day you had a key when I hadn’t given you one yet.”

Susan shook her head with a smile. “That might be because we are doing things out of order again.”

The Doctor nodded absently as he held a Tardis key out to her. “Maybe it is.” Susan took the key, hanging the necklace it was attached to around her neck.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together and grinned at the pair. “Right then you need to take a walk and I need to do a bit of precision parking.”

 

* * *

 

Once they got the Tardis repositioned it didn’t take as long as Susan had thought it would to get the crates piled up outside of the Tardis. The Doctor taught her to how to operate the floating lift machine and she used it to manoeuvre the crates into the transport. Steve and the Doctor picked them up at the other end, taking them outside the blue doors to stack them neatly on the ground outside. Finally the room was completely emptied and all the crates were heaped outside. The three stood outside the Tardis surveying their handy work. A grin spread across Steve’s face as he thought about all the hungry grumbling bellies that would be appeased come morning.

A rustle from the nearby bushes made Susan jump in surprise as Steve took a fighting stance. The Doctor just grinned at the man that walked out of the scrub. Bucky stared open mouthed  
blue box he had seen in a clearing not too far away with no visible means of moving it, and at the crates piled up all around it.

“Where did all of this come from?” He asked suspiciously as he eyed the other man who from Steve’s tales could only be the Doctor. Although the bow-tie and suspenders did not fit the description Steve had given him.

The Doctor’s grin had begun to verge on the ridiculous as he surged forward to grasp Bucky’s hand. Shaking it up and down with far too much vigour for the late hour. “Bucky! So good to see you again.”

“Have we met?” Bucky asked as he tried to remove his hand from the Doctor’s tight grip.

“Of course we have. Well I have, this is a first for you with this face at least but you haven’t met my old face yet.”

Su and Steve stood by smothering their laughter at Bucky’s bewilderment at the Doctor’s tirade, as the Doctor finally calmed down and let Bucky go. Susan wandered closer to the Tardis until the light was strong enough for her to read the alarm clock she had pulled from her bag. She had taken to keeping prepared for when she next met the Doctor.

Normally she would have set it. However she decided not to on this journey, seeing as it was the middle of the night. But on seeing the hands pointing at the three and the six she gasped. Her distress grabbed the attention of the three men who stared at her, waiting for her to tell them what the problem was. “It’s three thirty already.”

Bucky nodded in agreement. “It’s past time to wake the next watch and get some shut eye.” His words were directed at Steve who returned his glare with a sheepish grin. Though he was no longer a weakling who needed extra care, Bucky was still looking out for him.

“Well then I guess this is goodbye Doctor.” Steve held out a hand to the Doctor where it was grasped in an enthusiastic grip as Bucky gave Susan a jaunty salute. He turned to shake the Doctor’s hand as Steve engulfed Susan in a warm hug. “Don’t go getting into more trouble now you hear.”

“Same to you.” Susan replied as she squeezed him back. “Stay safe.” she whispered in his ear before letting go and heading back to the Tardis.

The last thing she heard as the doors closed was Bucky asking Steve “ How are we going to explain this to the boys?”


	15. Friends of Narnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan did not want to attend the first meeting of the Friends of Narnia. Nor any other meeting.

The Pevensie siblings had been invited to special gathering with Professor Kirke and his friend Polly Plummer. The Professor had told his young guests about his adventures in Narnia after they had tumbled out of the wardrobe. Lucy and Edmund had in turn told their cousin Eustace about their friend after their own time in Narnia. He in turn had contacted the old man and requested that they all be gathered together along with his friend Jill Pole. They all wanted to talk to talk about Narnia, two people who were not only fully grown but old enough to be their grandparents. And two children who had been granted a special gift and had not been denied a return visit.

Susan couldn't help but wonder how believing in a world everyone else would think was no more than a pleasant dream, could affect a person as they grew from a child into an adult. They didn't seem to make many lasting ties with anyone almost as if they were just waiting impatiently for Narnia to reclaim them. Neither of their elders had married and still reminisced about their childhood, even though decades had passed them by. Though out of everyone it was Susan and her siblings who had been there the longest. It seemed that Narnia was dear to everyone that had visited those distant shores.

Yet Susan didn't want to sip tea and nibble on sandwiches while they talked about all that was lost to them. That was all behind them except for the two youngest of their group. At least Eustace had been with Lucy and Edmund the first time. He had learnt to be a nicer person and grated on Susan's nerves a little less but Jill was a different story entirely. She had an air of self importance that was insufferable in the extreme and Susan could not bear it. Miss Plummer didn't help at all, on the contrary she seemed to encourage it.

Frankly Susan hadn't wanted to come in the first place but there was only so much one can do against a pleading sister and two stubborn brothers. But the entire ordeal had been torture from start to finish and she would need to remember that. As she refused to attend any more meetings. She had much more important things to do with her time, in the world they lived in. Namely when would the Doctor appear again. Not to mention how in the world was she going to manage to arrange all those supplies. Supplies that Steve and his men were currently using while they were stranded behind enemy lines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! I very much hope to have this story finished before 2018. Wish me luck!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are very much appreciated. <3 I'd love the feedback! Thank you for reading!
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr as [Leeef](http://leeef.tumblr.com/)


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